Happy Birthday to Me
by Draikinator
Summary: Something's wrong with Naruto today. But his friend's don't know and don't care. What's a guy to do? Possible oneshot- Reviews will make a new chapter happen.
1. Happy Birthday to Me

Happy Birthday to Me…

"Hey, dobe!" Sasuke yelled. Naruto's head snapped up- right into the ceiling.

"Ooowww!" He screamed, plastering both hands to his throbbing skull, "Owowowow!! Gah! You teme!" Naruto accused, dancing around under the low ceiling, trying to find somewhere he could stand up straight.

"I didn't hit your head, you idiot! What the hell are you spacing out for, we're on a mission!"

"A D ranked mission to catch a mole!" Naruto yelled back, remembering they were underground in one of Konaha's tunnels. Moles had recently been interfering with the tunnels, and they'd been sent to catch them.

"Shuddup Naruto!" Sakura whacked her poor blond friend on the head again, where it was still tender, "If Sasuke says it's important, then it is!"

"Will you both be quiet?? You'll scare away the moles! And Master Kakshi- stop reading your porn and give me a hand over here." Sasuke said irritably, as he hefted the string to launch the trap up to the ceiling, tying it off to a root. Kakashi didn't respond.

"Gaah! You stupid, stupid teme!" Naruto continued to yell at Sasuke, earning him another smack on the head.

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"Hey, guys-" Naruto started eagerly, after the mission was finished, "Do you know what tomorrow is…?"

"Huh? No, what's tomorrow?" Sakura asked, tilting her head to the side.

Naruto paused, face falling. Sasuke raised one eyebrow, "What's so special about tomorrow? Something good happening…?"  
"I… its m- it's…" Naruto stuttered for a moment, then sighed, "Tomorrow is… um, it's two-for-one ramen day at Ichiraku…"

"Oh, you moron! Who cares about that?" Sakura said, turning away. Sasuke just shrugged, unable to even care enough to make a comeback of any sort.

"No one… I guess…" Naruto said quietly, before turning and heading home as well.

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The next day, Naruto showed up for the day's mission looking rather forlorn and distracted. He was far off for the entirety of the day, only responding when asked a direct question.

Sakura was bothered, but only blamed it on Naruto's stupidity, as always. Sasuke could definitely tell something was wrong, though.

"Hey, dobe." He commented at the end of the day. Naruto was staring off into space at nothing. "Dobe. Dobe! Hey, Naruto!" Finally the little blond looked over suddenly, as if only just hearing him.

"Huh? Oh… Sorry Sasuke!" Naruto cried suddenly, a bright smile plastering itself over his face like always. Sasuke paused- there was something very. Very wrong with that smile. No… not the smile. But there was something wrong here. He just didn't know what it was.

"Sasukeee, heeeeey, teme! What d'you want?" Naruto asked, impatient as ever.

"So… Naruto… What _is_ today?" He asked cautiously.

"I told you, it's two-for-one ramen day! Do you want to come get some with me?" Naruto asked eagerly, and something clicked in Sasuke's mind when Naruto's face changed. His smile didn't reach his eyes. It was fake, a mask, his friend was trying to tough some hardship out without letting anyone know. But what was it?

"Ugh, ramen. I'd rather smell your nasty feet that eat that junk." Sasuke commented, a disgusted look on his face. Naruto's eyes had been smiling for just a moment when he'd asked Sasuke to join him, but at his friend's response, the light died in his eyes, leaving them cold. But his smile didn't change.

"Aaah, come on! Don't you wanna come with me?" He insisted, though his eyes continued to be dull.

"No, I don't want to! I'm going home now." Sasuke turned to leave.

"Aww! Teme doesn't wanna hang out with me!" Naruto said, pouting, one last attempt to get his friend's attention.

"Who would?" Sasuke snarled, agitated, before disappearing around the corner.

Maybe it was his imagination, but Sasuke could have sworn he heard a quiet, choked sob from behind him.

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Naruto hadn't gone to the ramen booth. It wasn't two-for-one day. Naruto had gone straight home.

He looked at the one tiny cupcake he'd bought for himself, with the flickering candle quietly melting in it. He was somberly silent.

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, wishing.

"Happy birthday to me…" He said quietly, eyes broken and lonely, then blew out the candle.

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Draik: Poor Naru-chan! Happy birthday!

Naruto: *sob*

Draik: Oh, be quiet, you're not normally so emo.

Naruto: You wrote it!

Draik: You're only allowed to be emo when I tell you too! Dance, Naru, dance!

Naruto: Whaaat? No way!

Sasuke: *throws quarter* Dance, dance!

Naruto: *dances* Why am I dancing?

Draik: *writes furiously*  
Naruto: Oh, I hate you. *still dancing*

Draik: Silence! Or the next thing I write will be NaruSaku!

Naruto: NOOOO!

Sasuke: Miiiiiine!

Draik: Hey, hey, this isn't a shonen-ai fic this time! Cut it out! *smacks*

Sasuke: FINE. Oh, didn't you wanna say something to the readers?

Draik: Huh? Oh, right! You morons distracted me. If you guys review enough, I'll write a new chapter! I planned this to be a one-shot, but Naruto here wants a happy ending.

Naruto: *sob*

Draik: Sheddup. So, if you review nicely, I'll write a new one! Thank you for reading!! *flies away*


	2. Happy Birthday to You

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit-" Naruto repeated, grabbing the branch before he fell off.

He was off in one of Konaha's surrounding forests, training. It was something that pervy sage had showed him a couple weeks ago; a chakra training exercise. It was October, sp it was autumn, and the tress were shedding their leaves. He was running a thin stream of chakra through the tree, preventing even a single leaf from falling.

Like usual, Naruto had picked the hardest candidate, though the tree he had picked seemed like a lost cause already. The very tree was dead, he'd set in on fire a week ago. The leaves were still attached, though, but every time he moved, they broke off. Naruto did what he always did- try harder.

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Sasuke was actually bothered by the fact that something seemed so very wrong with Naruto. Normally he really didn't care, but the dobe seemed unusually disturbed today, and now it had gotten to him. Finally, he decided the best course of action was to go find out whatever trivial thing was upsetting Naruto so that he could call it stupid and go home.

With that in mind, he arrived at Naruto's rather run down apartment, and was about to knock on the door, when he noticed Naruto slip out the window and go darting off into the woods. Of course, Naruto's perception was virtually nonexistent and was completely oblivious to his teammate not ten feet away.

"Dobe _always_ has to use a window…" Sasuke swore, then went off following him, "Always causing me trouble…"

Sasuke traveled a fairly slow pace for him, and found Naruto clinging to a branch of a tree swearing vulgarities at a pointlessly loud volume. He was about to start yelling and make his presence known, when something odd happened.

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"God damn them all!" Naruto yelled suddenly, grabbing his head with his hands.

"What the hell." He said, much softer." "Why would anybody care, anyway? Another year with a demon in the village isn't anything to celebrate." He dropped back, hooking his legs around the branch and just hanging. And suddenly, he didn't want to stop the leaves anymore.

And in a silent cascade, every leaf fell from the tree.

Naruto looked up at the empty branches, "Stupid, dead, useless tree." He commented.

One tiny, green leaf was peaking out just a foot from his face, the last on the tree. Naruto stared at it for a moment, wondering if there was some sort of irony in that.

"Huh. A little bit of life left in you, huh?" The leaf didn't respond. "That makes one of us, anyway." Naruto sighed, grabbed the branch with one hand and unhooked his legs in one fluid moment. He dropped to the ground. He paused, then his face lit up, a brilliant Naruto-class smile. Then it disappeared.

"Yeah, that'll do, I guess." And then, Naruto was gone.

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Sasuke stood back, even after his friend had left. Well, he honestly hadn't expected such a depression to come out of such a perky person. But, it would make sense. Not only did Naruto have no one to celebrate with, he had no one to tell because no one wanted to listen. Sasuke felt his heart drop.

He wondered for a moment what it would be like to never have had anyone who cared you'd managed to survive another year. Sasuke at least had his memories. Naruto had nothing.

And then, Sasuke was gone too.

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"Hello? Hello-oo?" Naruto called. Usually he was late to missions and everyone but Kakashi was waiting on him. Today, no one was here. He waited for a good hour and a half, fruitlessly. Finally, frustrated and confused, he turned back towards home, planning to chew out his teammates later.

He paused at his door. Even his poor perception noticed something funny about his apartment. On guard, he shoved the door open, ready to tackle whoever it was that had snuck into his apartment. He stuttered out a sort of funny choking noise when he saw how many people could possibly fit into his tiny space.

And at the giant chorus of 'Happy birthday Naruto!' from all of his friends, classmates or not, he felt his heart pick up, and his eyes smiled too.

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Naruto: D'aawww!

Draik: You see? You SEE how nice I am?

Naruto: You're the one who made everyone forget me in the first place…

Draik: …

Draik: Don't make me hurt you. I can and I will.

Sasuke: Nuuuuu!

Draik: Dammit Sasugay, go away. D

Naruto: Don't yell at him!

Draik: I'll yell at you!

Naruto: I KNEW NO ONE LOVED ME! *jumps off a bridge*

Draik: …Dammit. I killed another main character.

Sasuke: …omg.

Draik: And you're a witness!

Sasuke: D8

Naruto: *wet* lol gaiz im fine.

Draik: Oh. Nevermind then.

Sasuke: phew.

Draik: Anyway, this got two reviews. So I really wasn't going to finish it. But it got a bunch of favorites and alerts, and I was bored as hell and I don't feel like photoshopping anything because I am lazy.

Sasuke: She IS lazy.

Draik: I sure am! So I finished this instead.

Naruto: Enjoy. :D


End file.
